To the Churches of the Elkhorn Association:
DEAR BRETHREN: Among the Christian duties, there is none of more vital interest to the members of Christ's Church than that of SECRET PEAYER. At the present time especially there is a manifest dereliction among all our Churches in this department of personal piety. The neglect may be traceable in a measure to the engrossing, driving business spirit of the country, which rushes on in the pursuit of gain with an oblivions disregard of many delightful obligations. It is the uniform tendency of an exciting secular life, when not sedulously guarded, to ensnare and divert the follower of Christ from the habit of closet devotion. In the earlier years of Christian discipleship, before the storms of care arise, and in
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the serenity of old age, ripening and yearning for the skies, we meet with brighter examples of consecration to secret devotion than in middle life, amidst the struggles and perplexities of the world. Every Christian must acknowledge the clearness with which secret prayer is enforced.The example of our blessed Lord upon this subject is of itself sufficiently powerful to arrest the attention of the most careless reader of the Gospels. There is scarcely a sublimer scene in the whole Book of God than that one in which Jesus, at the close of the day's teachings and healings, having dismissed the disciples across Genesareth, went himself up into a mountain apart to pray, where he heard not the noise of the world nor the murmur of the multitude which had pressed him during the day; but when the evening was come, with its shades and stillness, the evangelist says, "he was then alone;" alone with his own thoughts; alone with the burden of suffering men; alone in pouring out his soul before God. None the less impressive is that other night of secret prayer, when the Saviour left the disciples behind, and went forward into Gethsemane and fell upon his face — "sorrowful even unto death" — pouring forth in sobs the agonies that crushed him to the earth. These examples should lead the followers of Christ in like manner to bear their cares and burdens unto God, where none but God can hear.
Besides his own example, the Saviour gave his disciples this positive command: "But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret Shall reward thee openly."
Dismissing the subject as a mere duty, secret prayer is the natural desire of every regenerate heart. Indeed, there is a yearning towards God in every im¬mortal spirit upon the globe, whether it be Pagan or Christian. When God made the soul, he made it to turn instinctively towards himself, and the fact of sin does not destroy this native movement towards the Creator. The longings of everv heart for satisfaction, amidst the carnalities and ambitions of the world, are all the distorted prayers of a nature crying out for God. Prof. Butler remarks: "There are aspirations turned astray, that, even in their perversions, attest their origin and purpose. These are warped and crippled and polluted bopes, that, even from their dungeons of flesh, still cry for heaven."
When the heart is quickened and renewed which thus instinctively stretches forlh its hands for God, even in sin and blindness, how strong and imploring must be the outflow of its life towards the Infinite, whom it now feels and knows? Such was Pascal's earnestness when he addressed the deity thus: "O my God, bow happy is the soul who finds his delight in Thee, since he may abandon himself to Thy love, not only without scruple, but with commendation. How firm and lasting is his happiness, since his hope cannot be disappointed, because Thou wilt never be destroyed, and neither life nor death shall separate him from the object of his desires." But stronger than these utterances are many we find in the writings of David, as: "My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God," and, "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, 0 God." With so many tender relations between us and God — God as the Creator, Preserver, Father, Friend, and Saviour, and we as branches, children, the saved — there must be a constant flow of life between heaven and us, and a constant seeking and adoring from us to God.
Whoever prays in secret ought not to pray in mere form, but from the heart, and in faith. Christ gives this strong encouragement: "All things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." He who prays most does most. David, whose life was eager toil for God, prayed many times during the day for divine help. Christmas Evans, the wonderful Welsh Baptist Minister, prayed morning, noon, and night, and rose at midnight for prayer again. General Havelock, whose memory is so fragrant in all the Christian world, set apart two hours for secret devotional exercise before he entered upon the business of the day. Havelock was permitted to relieve Lucknow, and to render other service to his country under the blessing of God, which make his name radiant with glory.
Secret prayer is the strong arm of success and defense to every follower of Christ. It should begin and close every Christian's career, and make up the breath of his life in the Church below. When Paul was converted, the first thing
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said of him was, "Behold, he prayeth." When Stephen was being stoned and dying, his last breath was the prayer, "Lord Jesus receive my spirit." The beautiful lines of Montgomery must find a response in every Christina's heart:
"Prayer is the Christian's vital breath,
The Christian's native air,
His watchword at the gates of death;
He enters heaven with prayer."=========== [Scanned and formatted from the original document at Elkhorn Baptist Association office, Lexington, KY; 1861, pp. 3-5. — Jim Duvall.]
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